Federal courts

To hold his Senate seat against his challenger, Beto O’Rourke, in 2018, Ted Cruz spent nearly $40 million. O’Rourke’s campaign spent double that amount. The day before the vote in Texas, Cruz lent his campaign $260,000. This was a curious—and seemingly unnecessary—gesture: The campaign’s final report showed it ended with $263,000 cash in hand. Yet Cruz was not acting irrationally. He was preparing the ground for a challenge of his own, an assault on the tottering remains of the McCain-Feingold campaign-finance law of 2002. That law, more formally known as the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, or BCRA, limited how campaigns could repay loans from candidates. A campaign has 20 days in which it can repay such loans in full. After that deadline, it can repay no more than $250,000. When Cruz’s campaign finished repaying him, the deadline had elapsed. So his campaign committee settled only $250,000 of the loan, leaving $10,000 outstanding—which Cruz then sued in federal court to … [Read more...] about What Ted Cruz’s Supreme Court Win Means

U.S. government lawyers on Wednesday asked the appeals court overseeing four western and two midwestern states to recognize that the First Amendment guarantee of free speech gives people the right to film police as they do their work in public — a decision that would allow officers to be sued if they interfere with bystanders trying to record them. Six of the nation's 12 appeals courts have recognized that right, but the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals has not — and justices heard arguments in the case of a YouTube journalist and blogger who claimed that a suburban Denver officer blocked him from recording a 2019 traffic stop. Natasha Babazadeh, an attorney for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, urged a three-judge panel from the court to rule that filming police is a constitutional right and said there has been an increase in the number of lawsuits filed against police by people saying they could not record them in public. The appeals court has jurisdiction over … [Read more...] about Lawyers urge appeals court overseeing 6 states to recognize a constitutional right to film police

A federal investigation into the District Attorney's pretrial intervention program may involve a contractor who was arrested last year on drug charges. Dusty Guidry of Youngsville, who was an employee in the DA's office, is on administrative leave without pay pending the outcome of an FBI and Justice Department investigation into the pretrial intervention program, District Attorney Don Landry of the 15th Judicial District in Lafayette Parish said Wednesday. The investigation became public May 9 when FBI and U.S. Department of Justice vehicles were seen parked outside the Lafayette Parish Courthouse and investigators were seen carrying boxes from the courthouse to their marked vehicles. On May 10, in a news release, Landry confirmed the FBI and Justice Department were investigating the pretrial intervention program and his office was cooperating. Guidry is the second employee in the DA's office placed on administrative leave without pay pending the outcome of the federal … [Read more...] about DA employee, previously arrested on drug charges, placed on leave pending federal investigation

The partial government shutdown that began during the quiet of the holidays is about to become the longest in the nation’s history . And on Friday, it will start truly hitting home for hundreds of thousands of federal employees: For the first time, their scheduled paychecks will not arrive. The missed payments will represent a turning point in the three-week standoff, inflicting a damaging financial burden on federal workers and deepening the impact on the broader economy. But it would only get worse from there if the impasse dragged on indefinitely. A shutdown of unprecedented length—one that, in President Donald Trump’s words, could last “months, or even years” —would have unprecedented adverse effects on national life, reaching corners of American society that have previously viewed the constant partisan budget fights in Washington as an abstraction. Already, the shutdown has shuttered many national parks and museums, cut off key sources of income for government … [Read more...] about The Impact of the Government Shutdown Is About to Snowball

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit has upheld a lower court's rejection of a constitutional challenge to Pennsylvania's post-Election Day deadline—further adding to President Donald Trump 's losses in recent legal disputes challenging the results of the election. In the decision, the panel of judges stated that the plaintiffs who brought the case—four registered voters from Somerset County, Pennsylvania—lacked standing and upheld the district judge's decision to deny last-minute injunctive relief just before Election Day on the grounds that it would confuse voters and disturb "the settled expectations of voters and election officials." "Even were we to conclude that Plaintiffs have standing, we could not say that the District Court abused its discretion in concluding on this record that the Supreme Court's election law jurisprudence counseled against injunctive relief," the court documents said. "Plaintiffs' requested relief would have upended this status quo, which … [Read more...] about Court rejects challenge of Pennsylvania’s post-Election Day deadline in blow to Trump’s legal disputes

A Michigan judge dismissed on Friday the Trump campaign's lawsuit challenging election results in Wayne County, home to Detroit. It was the latest in President Donald Trump 's recent string of legal actions to meet rejection in court, with others dismissed in Arizona and Pennsylvania earlier in the afternoon. Backed by his re-election campaign, Trump has initiated more than a dozen legal actions that seek to invalidate votes, undermine tabulation procedures and, ultimately, question results in the wake of his loss to Joe Biden . Last Saturday, major news outlets, including the Associated Press, named Biden the election's projected winner. The weekend's announcement came shortly after the AP called Pennsylvania for Biden, giving Trump's Democratic opponent the necessary electoral votes to secure the presidency. The Trump campaign was already pursuing legal actions in various states when Biden became the presumed president-elect. Lawsuits predominantly targeted ballot counting … [Read more...] about Judge dismisses Trump campaign lawsuit aiming to block election certification in Michigan

May 18, 2022 - 19:52 BST Amy Duggar has called on her cousin-in-law Anna Duggar to remember there is "no shame" in divorce as she awaits Josh Duggar's sentencing Amy Duggar has called on her cousin-in-law Anna Duggar to remember there is "no shame" in divorce as she awaits her husband's sentencing in a shocking child pornography trial. MORE: Jill Duggar reveals the surprising way she is parenting her children Amy, who has distanced herself from the Duggar family's controversial and fundamental religious views, took to social media to share that she cried while reading a letter sent from Anna's father to the courts in defense of father-of-seven Josh Duggar. Loading the player... WATCH: Duggar family spend time together for Father's Day "Anna, I feel for you. No woman wants to be in your shoes," Amy, 35, wrote alongside a photo of her and Anna hugging at Amy's wedding day. "You're faced with an impossible decision … [Read more...] about Amy Duggar shares heartbreaking message to Josh Duggar’s wife amid child pornography trial

Paul Paolucci, the top cop for one of the world’s biggest credit card companies, sure had some interesting friends. One made a fortune fronting for pornography websites that needed access to Mastercard’s and Visa’s payment networks. Paolucci, who oversaw Mastercard’s merchant fraud control, was photographed cavorting around the Las Vegas Hard Rock Hotel with him and a group of women in white corset minidresses. A second was a Lamborghini-driving e-commerce mogul with whom Paolucci used to celebrate family holidays. The mogul ended up in prison for a financial crime he committed, in part, using Mastercard’s network. An executive at a famously corrupt European bank claimed to have dined with Paolucci and gotten his help evading Mastercard’s regulations. It was Paolucci’s job to make sure that the banks and companies using Mastercard’s network were playing by the rules. He bent those rules himself by getting close to the very kinds of high-risk businesses he was supposed to be … [Read more...] about Two-Card Monte: Why Mastercard And Visa Rarely Shut Down Scammers Who Are Ripping Off Consumers

Russia expels 34 French, 27 Spanish, and 24 Italian diplomats in a tit-for-tat move Russian soldier pleads guilty at murder trial in Ukraine Ukrainian and Russian officials say peace negotiations have stagnated EU announces funding to help bloc move away from Russian fossil fuels Finland and Sweden submit NATO membership applications This article was last updated at 12:49 UTC/GMT Russian soldier pleads guilty of murder at Kyiv trial Vadim Shishimarin, a 21-year-old Russian tank commander held in Ukraine, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to killing an unarmed civilian. After his convoy was hit, Shishimarin and four other fleeing soldiers are alleged to have stole a car from outside the village of Chupakhivka in the early days of the invasion. He is accused of attacking the 62-year-old, who was riding past them on a bicycle, to prevent him from reporting their presence. "One of the military servicemen ordered the accused to kill a civilian so that he would not report … [Read more...] about Ukraine: Russian soldier pleads guilty of murder at Kyiv trial — live updates

Former Minneapolis police officer Thomas Lane pleaded guilty on Wednesday to aiding and abetting manslaughter in George Floyd’s killing in 2020. As part of Wednesday’s plea deal, Lane agreed to a sentence of three years that will be served concurrently with his federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights. His federal sentence has not yet been set. Lane, along with ex-cops J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao, was already convicted on federal counts of violating the civil rights of Floyd, the 46-year-old black man killed by their former colleague, Derek Chauvin. Chauvin was convicted of murder last year in Floyd’s death and pleaded guilty to a federal civil rights violation. He was sentenced to 22 1/2 years in prison in the state case, but has yet to be sentenced in the federal case. Attorneys for the fellow ex-cops were also in the courthouse Wednesday, but did not discuss plea deals for their clients, according to KARE 11. ‘Today my thoughts are once again … [Read more...] about Ex-cop pleads guilty to manslaughter in George Floyd’s death